Tax Tips

Tax Day is rapidly approaching and as you get your ducks in a row to submit your taxes, we wanted to share some quick tax tips to consider. Elizabeth attended a Keller Williams Leadership summit recently where a lot of emphasis was placed on understanding tax laws and the way they’ve evolved over time.

Tax Regulations

Tax regulations started at 400 pages and have grown to over 72,000 pages. It’s very important to do your research or find a knowledgeable accountant to guide you through these laws. As a homeowner or real estate investor, there are numerous tax breaks that can reduce what you owe in taxes.

Home Tax Assessment

Studies show 30-60% of properties in the US are over-assessed. If you think your home tax assessment is too high, you can appeal your property’s assessed value to your County Board of Taxation. Homeowners can also deduct state and local taxes (SALT deduction) as well as interest on mortgage payments.

Augusta Rule

As a homeowner and business owner, the Augusta Tax Rule enables you to rent your home for 14 days a year without paying tax. Tax regulations are vast and complicated; take the time to ensure you are maximizing them to your benefit.

We can’t emphasize enough the importance of working with a qualified and knowledgeable tax professional since laws change and evolve frequently.

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Loved working with Elizabeth and Amber. Their support was constant throughout the entire home buying process. They were patient and understanding with me and ultimately helped me find the condo of my dreams! Fantastic team and great to work with!

I can't say enough good things about Elizabeth! Three years ago she helped me find a beautiful apartment, long-distance, and recently she helped me sell it. She is a consummate professional, a total expert in her field and a great resource for everything real estate-related. She made me feel like I'm her only client, although I know this isn't the case--she is super successful and very busy, yet she responded to my questions in a timely fashion and made sure everything was in place for a successful, stress-free experience.

Amber and the team are incredible and I can’t imagine what this process would have been like without them. As a first time home buyer, I came in with a million questions and concerns, and Amber helped me feel comfortable about every single one. Her professionalism is unmatched and her vibrant personality makes things even better. The team also offered great local referrals from lenders to inspectors to attorneys, making my process smoother than I could have imagined.

I've been working with Elizabeth and Amber on and off since 2020. In 2020, Elizabeth was a rockstar when I was looking for a small condo, and in 2024 both Amber and Elizabeth helped my wife and I score a lovely home in downtown Jersey City. Their knowledge of the Jersey City area is next to none, and they also helped us partner with awesome legal counsel, inspectors, and loan officers. I want to call out specifically their attention to detail across the entire process.

We have rented, bought and sold with Elizabeth Rakela and we highly recommend her and her team! Elizabeth knows the industry well and that is very important when it's time to negotiate on your behalf, know when to take an offer and when to wait and overall provide an excellent experience. We have felt very well taken care of by Elizabeth and her team.

Elizabeth and her team were amazing to work with. We didn’t realize how much hard work is necessary to get a home ready for showing. From strategy to staging to closing they helped us as partners every step of the way. We know who we will be working with next time we are looking for a new home!

We had a great experience and highly recommend working with Amber. As first time buyers in a competitive market, she was seamless in navigating the process with us and was always available to answer our questions. Amber, Elizabeth and the entire team was fantastic!

Elizabeth, Amber and the Rakela team are the PERFECT team! They knocked our simultaneous sale and purchase in Hoboken this summer outta the park! She and team are experts on the Hoboken market. They have incredible communication style, savvy negotiation skills and long-standing rock-solid relationships with every partner you need in the process. We couldn’t have made a better choice in a partner in the home sale and buying adventure! Never thought such a stressful process could be as enjoyable as it was with them!

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Elizabeth is phenomenal real estate broker. She is honest and takes great pride in finding the right home for her client. Elizabeth is very patient and showed us properties multiple times - there was never any pressure to “do something”. Elizabeth knows Hoboken real estate and the community extremely well. We couldn’t be happier w/ our experience working w/ Elizabeth and would enthusiastically recommend her to anyone looking for property in Hoboken or Jersey City.

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I've had the pleasure of knowing Elizabeth for years and worked with her for several months to purchase a home. She was an expert in her field, knowledgeable of the area and what the market value of homes were. She was patient and honest with her feedback on the homes we looked at. I would highly recommend her to any buyer.

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